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ABSTRACT
The New Caledonia Trough is a bathymetric depression extending 2,500 km from New Zealand to the Coral Sea. Sedimentary successions up to 10 km thick are contained in three main sedimentary basins, the New Caledonia, Fairway and Deepwater Taranaki basins. Deepwater Taranaki Basin occupies the head of the New Caledonia Trough adjacent to the well-known Taranaki Basin lying almost entirely within New Zealand’s marine territory. The inboard part of Deepwater Taranaki Basin is covered by a dense grid of high-quality 2D and some 3D seismic data and one exploration well, Romney-1, which did not drill the syn-rift succession. The oldest sedimentary rocks drilled by Romney-1 are palynologically dated as Teratan (latest Turonian and Coniacian – 91–87 Ma). While the New Caledonia Trough is generally thought to have been initiated by Late Cretaceous (Campbell and Mortimer Citation2014; Strogen et al. Citation2017), this paper examines the evidence for the age of the oldest sedimentary rocks in the Deepwater Taranaki Basin and hence its age of inception and by inference, inception of the New Caledonia Trough to suggest a possible Jurassic age.
Acknowledgements
This paper stems from my 25 years’ service with GNS Science and, subsequent employment at OMVNew Zealand and from seismic and well interpretations conducted during my retirement. As such it owes much to discussions with colleagues in both organisations, particularly the late Michael J. Isaac whose wisdom, knowledge and humour are greatly missed.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Data availability statement
All seismic and well data acquired by petroleum exploration companies is available from New Zealand Petroleum and Minerals (NZP&M); web address: https://www.nzpam.govt.nz/maps-geoscience/ For those who may wish to study well samples, cuttings and cores are also available from NZP&M and are stored at their core store in Featherston.